School start times pushed back for Valley High School students
Valley Jr.-Sr. High School students can hit the snooze button a few more times before heading off to school.
The New Kensington-Arnold School District announced a new start time — 30 minutes later — for Valley Jr.-Sr. High School students for the upcoming school year.
Buses will begin arriving at 7:30 a.m. for a school day that will begin at 7:50 a.m. Last year, the school day started at 7:20 a.m.
The time change will not affect start or end times at other district schools, said Valley Principal Jon Banko.
“In a nutshell, the administrative team at Valley has been looking for a way to provide more consistent, collaborative planning and intervention time to the professionals in the building,” Banko said.
The state Legislature and Education Department modifying requirements for instructional time and days in school created an opportunity for the more consistent, collaborative staff planning time, Banko said.
“We plan to take advantage by keeping the faculty schedule the same and bringing students into the school 30 minutes later than in previous years,” Banko said. “This creates a window of time for initiatives we otherwise would not have the opportunity to engage in.”
The first day of classes at New Kensington-Arnold schools is Wednesday, Aug. 20.
Banko said the school is losing a “minimal amount” of instructional time during the day.
“I am confident it will be a worthwhile tradeoff,” he said. “A bonus for the students is that they will get to sleep in an extra half-hour.”
Dismissal at Valley High School will be at 2:20 p.m. Last year, it was at 2:15 p.m.
School districts in the Pittsburgh area have started to implement later start times for high school students, with most citing the opportunity for staff planning times or studies that recommended teenagers start school later to improve their sleep and health.
High schools in the Pittsburgh Public Schools district begin the day at 7:40 a.m., a change made effective in the 2023-24 school year from the previous start time of 7:15 a.m.
Also that year, the Upper Saint Clair School District pushed its start time back for high school students to 8 a.m.
Kellen Stepler is a TribLive reporter covering the Allegheny Valley and Burrell school districts and surrounding areas. He joined the Trib in April 2023. He can be reached at kstepler@triblive.com.
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